Islands

My abiding memory of Cook Islanders which many visits has never altered, is of a happy, friendly bunch of lotus eaters in Paradise. There are 13,000 odd Cook Islanders Islands that make up the Southern Cooks but the Cooks actually extend 1500 kilometres to the small islands to the north. It is impossible not to like Cook Islanders they are so warm and friendly. They are relaxed people and enjoy life; Samoans whom I also like very much can be a little serious, whereas you get the feeling with Cook Islanders would not know what the word serious meant.

Samoa and Tonga are the most traditional societies in Polynesia perhaps because they were the oldest being settled seperate identities for three thousand years. The Samoans have a term Fa'a Samoa which literally means 'the Samoan way', which sums up Samoan attitude and pride in their ways and their values. This is a conservative society and that is a fact not an implied critiizm. It fact Fa'a Samoa has helped Samoans make successes of themselves from Auckland in New Zealand to West Los Angeles in the States, in areas as diverse as NFL football were 40% of playeres are now Samoan to the opera stage in London.

New Zealand has more in common with Hawaii that the rest of Polynesia with the Maori and Moriori population being in the minority. The majority being English, Irish and Scottish, a growing Asian population mainly Chinese, a small Indian community and a healthy Polynesian population from other islands mainly Samoan, Tongan and Cook Islands. Auckland is therefore regarded as the largest Polynesian city on the planet. The largest Maori population is in the North Island which mirrors the precontact statistics. Maori culture is strong and assertive and cross cultural understanding fairly good and mainly respectful. New Zealand is unusual for having a living legal document dating back to 1840 governing the legal rights of its Maori population and despite a painful and long running dispute this treaty is codified firmly into law. Loss of land still affects Maori negatively and is in stark contrast to other purely Polynesian States with only Hawaii worse in this regard. There are signs that the economic prospects of Maori are improving but off a low base.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the atolls of Tokelau — Atafu, Nukunonu, and Fakaofo — were settled about 1,000 years ago and may have been a "nexus" into Eastern Polynesia. Inhabitants followed Polynesian mythology with the local god Tui Tokelau; and developed forms of music (see Music of Tokelau) and art. The three atolls functioned largely independently while maintaining social and linguistic cohesion. Tokelauan society was governed by chiefly clans, and there were occasional inter-atoll skirmishes and wars as well as inter-marriage. Fakaofo, the "chiefly island", held some dominance over Atafu and Nukunonu after the dispersal of Atafu. Life on the atolls was subsistence-based, with reliance on fish and coconut.

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